October 2024
“Do not forget what you’ve harvested”
One afternoon as part of my own expressive arts personal practice,
I allowed myself to respond to deep intentions and internal guidance,
I was able to connect to a truth held in my body and spirit: “Que no se te olvide lo cosechado” “Don’t forget what you’ve harvested”. As I moved my body in the studio, my mind was trying to let go of those things that do not serve me anymore, I wanted to shed the roles I’ve been for others, let go of the expectations of me, and to my surprise as I was letting go—letting those layers crumble and decompose—a strong sense of self-compassion enveloped me. An understanding of my own resiliency in the form of a fruitful harvest showed up on my mind-body-spirit and on paper. I did not only want to forcefully remove those rusty parts for a new rebirth, but I held onto a pure love of what I’ve cultivated within myself. A pride in understanding the strengths, learnings, intuitions, skills, and all that have protected me and guided me to where I am now. So it is not shedding away what no longer is, to find a rebirth of a brand new me, but instead going back to a core with so much wisdom to continue growing and nourishing. I firmly believe that this core is present in all of us, a sense of Self and internal compass that holds us with self-compassion and dignity. And it is the witness to all our multilayered and multidimensional existence and stories that we have carried throughout our lives. I see this internal compass guiding us in the values and innate gifts we want to express in the world.
I understand It is not easy to sense that Self, that core. And right now as we witness genocide and destruction by dehumanizing systems, we must crumble stories that do not serve us individually and at the collective level. Crumble stories that take away our power, and reach within to our core to connect to the internal compass of others to rebuild from each of our own innate gifts, to build alternative systems that hold the dignity of all. We need all the visions, skills, knowledge, tools, resources, values, harvests, and fruits that live within those Selfs, in order to continue expanding our world in a life-affirming path, like so many have been doing for decades and centuries before us despite the oppressive systems and stories created around us.
Movement, music, drawing, storytelling, meditating, visualizing, dancing, planting, orienting with my senses, and ritual—the expressive arts—are part of my resources to reach glimpses of that Self. They give me the opportunity to manifest and practice how it is to move in the world from my core escence.
How are you able to sense a glimpse of your own Self, your compass, your core?
What could we create if we connected from Self to Self?
How can we provide the spaces and systems for our Selfs to be cared for, tended to, recognized, and celebrated?
